Researchers in Ohio are studying the power of pee

NBC ^ | 13 May 2011 | Stephanie Liebergen

[mandaladon]

ATHENS, Ohio - Researchers at Ohio University are studying a new energy source you can produce yourself. They’re studying the power of pee.

It’s something everyone does, every day. Even though urine is nearly 99 percent water, there is a lot of hydrogen in the remaining one percent from an organic compound called urea.

To break it down, if you could collect the urine from all 24,000 students at Ohio University, you could power 60 buildings every day.

Researchers say there is still a lot of work to be done, but there are some applications of this new technology that could start paying off for businesses very soon.

Until then, our “number one” power source will just keep going down the drain.

[mandaladon]

If this works liberals will find a way to tax the piss out of us!!!!!!

[Artemis Webb]

I'm only typing something to I can type in yellow.

[Yo-Yo]

The “power of pee” is used in the newest diesel automobile engines to reduce their emissions.

[rickmichaels]

To break it down, if you could collect the urine from all 24,000 students at Ohio University...

Probably pure spirit.

[ohioWfan]

The urine from the people at OU will most likely be more alcohol than water.....

[Still Thinking]

Does this mean Obama’s advice about gas prices during the coming campaign will be to drink more water? (similar to the tire gauge crack)

[tubebender]

Blimey!!! I’m a walking power plant... I peed 10 times between 4AM and 10PM yesterday. (I take a diuretic daily)

[Gator113]

It sure seems less of a bother to just drill for the damn oil.

Most libs smell like pee anyway, so pee-gas might work out for them.

[BwanaNdege]

"http://practicalaction.org/appeal_biolatrines"

From my old home town of Kitale, Bio-latrines in Kenya use the "yellow" and the "brown".

"In Kitale, Kenya, 14 schools are facing closure. Not because of governmental reforms, lack of funds or a shortage of resources - but because of their sanitation. And yet a gift of just £50 could be enough to help keep a school open.

But there is an answer which would help rescue these schools from closure.

As little as 6,750 Kenyan shillings - just £50 - can help to build bio-latrines. Because they are a "dry" toilet, they neither require water to work (which is already scarce) nor is there any danger of waste leaching into the groundwater and polluting water supplies, causing disease.

The bio-latrine system also brings with it a surprising and marvellous range of added benefits, including helping to both heat and light the school."

[AndrewB]

A tiny urine powered turbine in every urinal. Think of the possibilities. And we thought it was only good for writing our name in the snow...

[ErnBatavia]

I used to listen to a Master Gardener on the radio...Jerry Baker. He was a really big proponent of going out and peeing on your trees.

My wife busted me following his advice under the orange tree, and gave me a ration of sh*t - maybe because it was the front yard tree, versus the backyard....

[SpaceBar]

Liberals fascinated by their own waste. How appropriate.

[maine-iac7]

If this works liberals will find a way to tax the piss out of us!!!!!!"

I had a Texas friend tell me that the best cure for athletes foot - pee on 'em.

[Freak Flag]

If you have a composte heap, pee is one of the best things you can add. Mine,thankfully is block by a big tree .

[tubebender]

I pee around my corn crop to thwart the Raccoons but I always turn my back to my neighbors...

[WePledge]

Keep the beers a’coming I’m a walking power plant!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

When my Dad was managing big space programs at GE back in the early 70’s, they received an earnest letter from a woman who suggested they build a “human turd battery” for space flight. She said she had tasted her baby’s poop and detected a tingle that she thought could be converted to power. I remember dear old Dad and his colleagues having a good laugh at that one. I don’t know if that letter is in Dad’s collection today or not...I think it got lost.

[maine-iac7]

I had a friend in Utah that heated his chicken houses - 30,000 chickens - with a chicken-poop furnace - back in the early 70’s.

[1_Rain_Drop]

Speaking of diuretics.... Soon mochelle will be forcing us to eat one pound or more of dandelion greens daily. That stuff makes one go go go NOW! Then peeps will have to lug gallon jugs everywhere, get into their electric cars and zap over to the pee deposit station.

[Noumenon]

Brings a whole new context to the word ‘peon’, doesn’t it?